Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Frequency by Eric Parks and Casey Bankord

Parks says God created you for a unique relationship with Him. No one else was designed to have the relationship with God you do. Yours is a unique part in a cosmic symphony.

He likens your unique self to your frequency. “Living on your frequency is God's idea for ongoing connection with you.” (8-9) He helps the reader identify that frequency. “When you hit your frequency, you feel an overwhelming sense of fulfillment that almost seems 'otherly.'” (12) Living in your frequency is God's design for you. It requires effort, but not the effort of trying to be someone you're not.

The method for spiritual growth is unique for your frequency. There is no generic method for spiritual growth. You'll need to develop your own routine of spiritual disciplines.

Parks suggests exploring “spiritual pathways.” the different environments of spiritual growth identified by various authors, including John Ortberg (who wrote the Forward to this book).

Parks suggests you find your frequency by taking the personal assessment at Monvee.com and there is to be a code included in the book to allow you to do that for free.

The second part of the book consists of nine chapters, each organized around the nine major personality categories that Monvee measures. Each is centered on a biblical character: Joseph, Abraham, Jacob, David, Luke, Timothy, Solomon, Samson, and Jonathan. Eric interviews a person for each personality. Most of the people are professional Christians (pastors, authors) and I found their life stories to not be very applicable to laypeople like me.

What I read was an uncorrected proof and chunks of the manuscript were missing, including one interview, and the section called “For Church Leaders.”

Eric Parks is the cofounder of Monvee. The Monvee program came out of Heartland Community Church, in Rockford, IL where Mark Bankord (I assume the father of co-author Casey Bankford) is directional leader.

The first third of this book I found very rewarding. That each of us is unique, that there is not one spiritual growth method that fits all...that is good news.

The rest of the book is pretty much just a suggestion to use Monvee. I was not surprised to find out that Parks was a cofounder of Monvee. I am glad the book will provide the code for a free assessment at that web site. Nonetheless, I have a feeling that this book is a not so subtle promotion of Parks' Monvee assessment ministry.

A minor point of criticism regarding the diagram on page 16. A better representation of the concept would have been two wave functions, interacting. Where they coincided (one is living his frequency) the wave is amplified. Where the two interfere (one is not living his frequency) the wave is dampened. After all, this is frequency and showing waves of two different frequencies would have been more appropriate.

Books I've read

GoodReads Reviewer

About Me

I am a retired Christian bookstore owner of 33 years. I still love books and read as many as I can, blogging my reviews. I have also taken up photography and sell photos of Whidbey Island and nearby landscapes.